We were using a Cat 350 excavator to do some stripping at the quarry, this machine is passed around to several quarries in NY and also has a hyd. hammer to break up over sized rocks. Well had one day left to use before it was to be moved to next job site. Operator was traveling to another area in quarry and of course just as he was going through about six inches of mud in shallow ditch between fields one of the hoses to the drive motor fails . Lay plywood down to make a work floor that's not too nasty and start digging to find bolts holding on guards. This is a 1996 machine and I don't think guards have ever been off Actually did manage to get a six point 15/16 socket to grip on the 24mm heads and take them out. As you can imagine under covers were solid with years of dried mud and stone. After much digging could see that heads of bolts at the motor end of hose were too far gone to grip with any wrench. Well that called for the blue tip wrench One of the split flanes was actually broke and rusty in the crack not sure how long it was like that. Called dealer and had new hose made up and boss picked it up along with new hardware to replace rusty stuff after work. Put new hose on next morning, much easier than the old one came off. Moved Hoe to area with wash down hose and operator did a good job washing out the years of crap. Put covers back on with anti-seize, always make it easy on next guy as that might be YOU:tong So what was my mistake? Well I sorta was bitching to the boss about how those guards should be removed once a year to wash out crap and also pointed out a hose up in the center of machine near the swing motor that does not look right, all puffy on the out side. Well he just had to take a picture and pass it on to his boss. Guess what I am doing next Monday?:Banghead If I had not said anything the machine would be the other side of state Monday and someone else would be crawling down in the greasy middle of the machine fighting that hose! Did I forget to mention that the center of machine has not been washed out in a long time and there is lots of oil and rock in there?:Banghead
Ah, but you sleep so good when you do the right thing. It speaks volumes for your character.
Yeah that sure sucks huh? Been there manyyy a day myself tryin to be the leader of the pack. N most days I spent fixin others work or lack of attention I should state. N in the end noone cares nor appreciates a damn thing for your efforts n professionalism you gave all those years. Let alone saving countless cases of idoit dumb***** in doing so, even when most should have lost their jobs. Funny how most butt kissers seem to disappear when those jobs come up. Although I agree with the fact that it does speak actions of ones character regardless. I'd say the mgmt needs to up the ante on their annual maintenance program. As such matters should've been repaired long ago imho. But that's in a perfect world I guess?lol I'd grab the bosses pet to give u a hand next time too, after hours of course. Besides being a soldier today, n being a mechanic are both the two most thankless occupation out there,,, Rarely did I meet a supervisor that could pack n hump his own ruck thru the mud n get er done. Anyhow, atleast mama will appreciate it till u throw those greasy rags called work clothes in the tub. Then you'll be fixin more than a broken line. lol. Later,,,:drinkup
Not sure if the sleeping will be from doing the right thing or just from busting my *** fighting that dam hose out of there and back in.
And nowadays what passes for management in this outfit only thinks of maintenance as a "cost center", production is a "profit center" not sure why they think they can have production if machines are not kept working :beatsme I was thinking the same thing while changing the hose, would love to see head boss in the state who is the biggest problem we have try to do this type of work:tong And it's not that I'm some young kid, I've got a few years on him working for this company. No problem with the greasy rags/work clothes, for $6.53 a week I get them taken care of by a laundry service
Oh, yeah. Been there done that 10 years ago on a Link Belt 5800, same scenario. Rust, rocks, mud, and rusted off fasteners. Ended up replacing all the hoses on both sides... after we got it dragged out of the oil/mud mix it was stuck in. And of course, 50 yards of contaminated mud to remediation.
In a way we were kind of lucky as 95% of the oil went right into the big water puddle. and we always have a large supply of oil absorbent pads and snakes on hand. Left pads and snakes in the puddle over night and when we got new hose on and moved machine there was only a slight sheen on a small section of the water, left a few more pads there ti catch more. No flowing water, it was a low spot in the hedge row operator was passing through so no problem of it spreading from the site. Later next week I'll check in to let you know the "Rest of the Story"
Moved this thread from TLB's to the excavator forum. Spent the last couple of days, since we were between jobs, washing out belly pans and servicing equipment. I like to bring the equipment in at least twice a year and do a full hose down from top to bottom. It keeps the equipment clean and allows you to find any cracked welds or other items in need of attention that would normally be covered with mud and crud. Every time I do this, I find even more respect for mechanics.
Amen to that
Well the project got postponed a few days but I did end up having the pleasure of replacing some hoses! After a better look at the travel hoses going from the drive valve body to the swivel all of them had bulges in the outer cove and were painted yellow so I would be safe in saying the were factory hoses on a 1996 machine with over 24,000 on meter. Those four are fun to get to at the swivel end ointhead Probably don't help that this machine is also plumbed up for a hydraulic breaker so a few extra hoses going to the boom:Banghead Then there were the two large hoses from center frame to the drive motor on the right side. both had cracks in the outer housing and some broken wires showing. Not hard to get too but as the covers have not been removed to wash out on a regular schedule the bolts on the motor end were rotted too much to even think about turning with a wrench. For a change I had a helper who was suppose to be a good welder and such so I asked him to snip the heads off the split flange bolts. Did pretty good job till he also burned through the hose for the displacement change valve. It was an original too so probably good to replace too anywho! Then some dummy went to online parts store and looked at the wrong hose in the parts book and ordered the brake release hose. Dope slap for me!:Banghead What the heck as the nut on the end of that hose was pretty rusty and the only hose on that side of the frame we had not planed on replacing might as well do the whole job once. Boss was a little worried that he had truck coming in the morning to move the 350 to different location. He did some calling an said we had to have it ready to load at 10:00am today. Well it was crawling out the shop door at 9:45am headed for the truck and it is now out of our hair for some time and in better condition than when it arrived on our door step, which always seems to be the case when we get a loaner from another plant.
What management needs to be told is: If their profit margin is 10%, then you saving them $1000 is like them doing a $10,000 dollar job. And they don't pay tax on the "profit" you made them.
Well yes and no. Unless the shop is doing outside work on other people's machines, it cannot be a "profit" center as it has no income. Now on the other hand, it's very important as a cost center to make sure operating expenses are kept in line with the type of equipment and jobs that the company does. The reason why the shop is a "cost" center and the job is a "profit" center is just accounting terms but mutually important to the bottom line of a construction company.
I fully understand that maintenance of a piece of equipment is a cost but what what bothers me is how some don't seem to understand that spending the money to properly take care of a machine be it a weed-eater or a large Cat excavator make the equipment last longer with less down time. A couple years ago we had a 345 Cat excavator that is used with a hyd. breaker in a quarry application that had a hyd. cylinder problem. one of the main boom cylinder was scored way beyond salvage. While dealer was working on it they determined the problem was simply the fact that dirt and stone had been allowed to build up on the frame behind the cylinders and when boom was raised to upper level it acted as a stop and put extreme side loading on the cylinder forcing the piston to gouge the barrel. The metal gouged off the barrel worked it way to the control valve and scored that beyond salvage. They were able to locate good used parts for much of the repairs but I would still not want to know how much the bill was that was caused by something a simply not keeping a machine cleaned off. The there is another story about a rebuilt engine with less than 200 hours on it that was ruined because it would have cost too much to properly repair a cobbled up exhaust system that let water get into cylinders. Maintenance may not create "profit" but lack of it can sure eat it up!